160

punishment “without the sanction of the British
authorities. All disputes and disturbances are referred
to the arbitrament of the sovereign power.

The mediatized states are guaranteed in a similar
position towards the superior state, to which they
are related, by the British government.
Afghanistan.
The kingdom of Afghanistan is recognized as
independent, and maintains political relations with
the British government under treaties and alliances
which have been made from time to time. With
every desire not to interfere, however, the British
government have been twice, within half a century,
 forced to assert their practical supremacy in
Afghanistan by military occupation ; but on each
occasion the throne has been given up to a representative
 of the ruling dynasty upon the British government’s
 own terms. The neighbourhood of Russia,
on the other side of Afghanistan, renders it imperative
 that the British government should have a large
share in the management of the Amir’s relations with
foreign powers. The British government are only
interested in maintaining the integrity of the Afghan
kingdom, in order that it may form an independent
and neutral zone lying between Russian conquest in
Central Asia and India, No advantage would be
gained to India by any further extension of supremacy
 beyond the mountain ranges which form the
natural boundary of the Indian empire.